Young at Heart Message

Years ago, shortly after my return to church after a long hiatus, I attended a worship service at a church back home in Wisconsin.

This was a church I had never been to before, but I decided to attend because someone I knew had suggested it.

Things went fine until the pastor of the church started to preach. I don’t know what passage he was preaching on specifically, but he began to talk about his father.
 
He shared that his late father was most certainly in hell.

He began to give reasons for it, and while I can’t remember exactly what those reasons were, some of the things he listed were common, everyday things that many people do.

He didn’t live the healthiest lifestyle, he made some poor decisions in his life, and he didn’t expressly accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour.

This sermon made me incredibly uncomfortable, and it took me a long time to parse out why.
 
Part of the problem was that every person in that room most likely committed some of the same “egregious” sins that he claimed that his father had committed.

So this pastor stood up in front of a congregation and essentially called them all sinners and implied that they were going to hell.

It certainly didn’t leave a great feeling in my heart, and I didn’t feel like I received Good News that day, that’s for sure.

It also didn’t sound like the Jesus I knew.
 
This is similar to another story I came across as I was preparing for today’s sermon, and I’d like to share that story with you as well.

The author, David Lower, shared about his time spent as a chaplain in a hospital.

While he was on duty, he received a call to a dying man’s bedside.

When he walked into the room where a lovely old man was taking his final breaths, the man’s eldest son introduced himself.
 
The son introduced his dying dad to the chaplain and then said, “I’m pleased to report that Dad’s been saved for 27 years now, thank God, so there’s nothing to worry about here.”

He continued, “The reason I sent for you is because you may want to pay a visit next door. That poor man - he’s…”

His voice dropped to a whisper and said:

“...unsaved. Unchurched. You know what I mean?”

David goes on to say the following:
 
“I did learn that his dad’s neighbor was at peace, surrounded by loved ones after a laudable life of service to others. What I’ll never forget is the revealing picture I caught as I walked away. The two rooms shared a doorway, with a thin partition between. I stood in the doorway and saw two families, probably with very different worldviews, surrounding their departing loved ones in pure expressions of love. The beauty on either side of the wall was similarly striking and holy, and it was hard to imagine God feeling anything but glorified by it all.”
 
In other words, this man’s experience with these two families was nothing but love for a dying family member.

It is a stark reminder that there are many different ways that God’s saving work can be made manifest in people’s lives, and we may not be in a position to determine that ourselves, or at first glance.

It begs the question about whether or not we ever need to be in a position where we are responsible for judging people’s faith, or their mistakes.

And this is where I want to begin talking about our Gospel passage from Matthew today.
 
The Message

Just like last week, we receive a parable from Jesus followed by an explanation. This time though, the explanation claims that it was Jesus who made it.

However, Jesus does not typically do this work of explaining parables like this, so it is more likely that Matthew added these explanations later to make things easier for people to understand, or perhaps to place his own interpretation on the parable.

But the reason Jesus tends to speak using parables is because it’s up to each of us to discern the meaning for ourselves.
 
So of course, pastors get to do the work of trying to explain what the parables might mean in today’s context, but our explanations are our own interpretations too.

All of that said, I want to think about this parable in terms of the two stories I just shared with you.

In both of the stories I shared, one person is taking it upon themselves to judge what others do and, in particular, to try to determine who is saved and who is not, OR, who is faithful and who is not.
 
I don’t know about all of you, but that is not a job I would ever want. Thank God that a pastor’s job isn’t to make that judgement call!

The parable of the weeds and the wheat can be interpreted to portray what appear to be “insiders” and “outsiders” of heaven.

But when the land owner is asked whether or not the servants should pull the weeds, he responds by suggesting that instead, they allow the weeds to grow along with the wheat until the harvest, at which time they can be separated.
 
The two story lines playing out in a single field portray the coexistence of good and evil, with their outgrowths growing side by side, intertwining.

If the servants try to gather the weeds, they might struggle to tell the difference between plants. They might get rid of the weeds and uproot the good growth, too.

So the gathering and separating will not be done until the harvest time, when angels will reap and gather the good wheat into the barn and discard the rest for burning.
 
Followers of Jesus - presumably characterized as the servants in the fields - are encouraged to be patient and trustful that good growth is still occurring and will prevail, even when the weeds seem rampant.

It is not their job to separate good from evil because in the end, the doers of evil will be cast out.

Then, all that will remain is the good, shining like the sun.

The lessons Jesus is trying to communicate about God’s kingdom can be seen throughout history.
 
And, indeed, they can be seen in this moment, too.

We can all see weeds. That is essentially what the pastor at the church I attended was saying – he could see the weeds in the field and he wanted to pick out the weeds and uproot them himself.

Likewise, the son of the dying man in the hospital saw his neighbour as a “weed,” to use this same metaphor. He couldn’t see the beauty in the man’s life because of his determination about his faith (or lack thereof).
 
We can all see weeds – or what we think are weeds.

But, maybe we shouldn’t make it our business to try to separate the weeds from the wheat.

As servants of Jesus, we can help nurture, feed, and cultivate the good growth that’s been planted by sharing the Good News and doing our best to love one another, heal one another, and seek the lost like Jesus.

There’s more than enough for us to do and worry about in this lifetime that we can allow God to do the picking and separating when it comes to people.
 
Thank God we aren’t called to do that work. We are simply asked to love one another.

We are asked to look out at that field and appreciate the wheat alongside the weeds, knowing that we don’t need to worry about separating it all because that is ultimately God’s job.

It’s our job to nourish and help both flourish as best we can, and to remember that everything and everyone are intertwined.
​
And, in the end, we are simply called to love and be loved. Amen.
 
Let us pray:
 
Gracious God, we sometimes forget that even weeds can be beautiful. When we find ourselves wanting to parse out the weeds from the wheat, help us to remember that it is your work to do that, not ours. Guide us instead toward appreciating the weeds and the wheat being intertwined together, and help us to do as you call us to do, which is to love both. In your holy and gracious name, we pray. Amen.
 
Resource: The Christian Century, In the Lectionary, David Bower, Sunday July 20, 2014

The Message

This week’s message was difficult for me to figure out how to preach.

This is interesting because it seems like this passage should be fairly straightforward.

My guess is that many of you could stand up here and preach a decent sermon on this passage without too much trouble.

So why is it a struggle for me?

I think the hangup for me is that I am not a gardener or a farmer.
 
Planting and growing doesn’t come naturally to me. So relating to a passage that is about sowing and planting isn’t easy for me.

So, I’m tasked with explaining gardening and planting to a room full of… experienced gardeners and planters.

On the other hand, this parable should be fairly understandable to the average person, which is why Jesus uses it.

So, what is he saying? I know that Matthew gives us his interpretation of the parable in our reading.
 
But let’s review what Jesus is telling us.

He gives us a parable about a farmer who is attempting to plant a field. And as he sees it, there are four different places that seeds could be placed as the farmer is planting.

Option 1: Some of the seeds fall along the road and get eaten by birds.

Outcome 1: The seeds don’t grow at all because the birds eat them. The birds are nourished, but the seeds cannot produce anything because they are not in soil at all.
 
Option 2: Some seeds fall on thin, rocky ground and begin to grow quickly.

Outcome 2: These seeds dry up and are scorched because they were planted too close to the surface. They couldn’t establish deeps roots.

Option 3: Some seeds fall in places where thornbushes were already growing.

Outcome 3: The plants that were already there choked the new seeds out and prevented them from growing.
 
Option 4: Some seeds fall on good soil.

Outcome 4: The plants produced 100 or 60 or 30 times as much as was scattered, making up for all of the seeds that could not grow.

Now, Matthew gives us his interpretation of what this parable means, so let’s summarize that as well.

Matthew believes this parable is talking about different types of people.

Person 1 (seeds eaten by birds): People who hear the message about the kingdom, but don’t understand it.
 
These types of people are, according to Matthew, susceptible to manipulation or “evil” ones, and the message is snatched from their hearts.

In other words, the message doesn’t “grow” because these people cannot understand it for themselves, let alone share the message with others.

Person 2 (seeds that fell on rocky ground and dried up): These types of people gladly accept the message and accept it immediately. But, they don’t have deep roots, so as soon as life (or spreading the message) gets hard, they give up.
 
These people might initially be excited to hear the message and might be enthusiastic about sharing or spreading the message in the moment, but they allow life to distract them.

Perhaps they get side-tracked, or they experience a consequence to sharing the message and they quickly give up.

Thus, the message doesn’t move very far with this type of person either.

Person 3 (seeds that fall among the thornbushes): These types of people hear the message as well.
 
But, according to Matthew, they start to worry about the wrong things – needs and desires in this life. They are also fooled by the desire to get rich (financially or otherwise).

The message gets choked out for these people and cannot spread, either.

Person 4 (seeds that fall on good soil): Lastly, these types of people hear the message and understand, and willingly and gladly spread it.

These are the people who will spread the message widely and produce more than what was planted.
 
So, this is Matthew’s interpretation of the parable that Jesus shared.

And there is a lot to appreciate about his interpretation.

The main thing that I appreciate about it is that the four options/responses normalize not just differences among people but the ways that different teachings may be received (or not) by one individual.

And, it is possible for a person to be all four different soils at various times in life.
 
It also leaves room for life circumstances.

Sometimes we are “good” soil – fully open and available to receiving what God is trying to plant within us.

But sometimes, we are not open to receiving so the seed doesn’t even reach us, or it does but it dries up quickly when things get hard, or it gets choked out by other priorities.

It’s important for us to remember this as we think about things that might come up for us in life. Sometimes, we are open to receiving – ready and willing to take the next steps.
 
And other times, we are not as open to receiving.

And we ebb and flow between these different states of receptivity throughout our lives.

On the other hand, I think it’s also important to remember that this parable could apply to everyone and everything else around us all the time as well.

There may be times in life when we try to plant seeds and we desperately want them to grow, but they don’t.
 
Maybe we’ve been trying to get a new job, or have a baby, or retire, or improve our relationships, or any number of other things, but things just don’t seem to be working.

In these cases, we can remember this parable and it might be worth asking ourselves if we have done everything we can to cultivate the soil we are attempting to plant in.

Let’s use finding a new job as an example.

Have we updated our resume?
 
Have we gotten enough experience in our field, or enough education?

Have we put in enough time at our current job to be qualified for a promotion (if that is what we are seeking)?

Have we shaken hands with the right people?

Have we demonstrated success in our current job?

Have we been present, on time, etc? In other words, have we cultivated relationships that might provide us with a good reference?
 
The list could go on, but you get the idea.

Have we cultivated the soil in which we are trying to plant our seeds?

And of course, there are times in life when we have done everything we feel we can do, and still, our seeds don’t grow.

The same can be true when we plant a real garden, too.

And sometimes, we plant specific seeds to try to grow something in particular, and that thing doesn’t grow, but plenty of other things do.
 
In a real garden, nature has a way of spreading seeds and plants we never actually planted.

So, we might do everything we can to create the best soil for planting, but nature has other plans.

God, in fact, may have other plans.

This parable reminds us that yes, we can do everything we can to cultivate good soil – in ourselves and in the world around us such that we can grow what we plant.

And sometimes, God may have other plans for us despite our best efforts.
 
So, as we go about our daily lives and ruminate on this parable, it is worth wondering about the things we are trying to grow and the seeds we have been planting.

The lesson here is two-fold (or perhaps even more, but today we’ll stick with two-fold).

Part 1: Have you done everything you can to cultivate yourself and create “good soil” in yourself? In other words, have you done the work to open yourself to Jesus’s message and to the work that God does in your life every day?
 
Can you see the work of God in your life and appreciate it, and can you create that space in yourself to be receptive and fully open to it?

And,

Part 2: When you have something in your life that you are trying to plant/grow, have you done all you can to create good soil for that thing to grow into?

And, most importantly for either of these two lessons, we must always remember that no matter how well we cultivate our inner soil or the soil we can control in the world around us, God is cultivating and growing “God-seed” too.
 
And we must allow ourselves to be open to the movement of God and the Holy Spirit in all of this.

So, as you leave here today, may you take this parable with you to consider.

May you wonder about your inner soil, the outer soil of the world around you, and the “God-seed” that may indeed spread whether you intend it to or not.
​
Amen.
 
Let us pray:
Gracious God, open our hearts to you and help us to prepare ourselves to be open to your “God-seed.” Help us to better our own soil and the soil of the world around us such that the seeds we plant can grow, and such that the seeds you plant within us can grow. Allow us to be open to the leanings of your Holy Spirit. In your holy name, we pray. Amen.

Young at Heart Message

Yesterday, I did my first ever open water swim in preparation for the triathlon that I’m registered to do at the end of the month.

If you have ever tried swimming in open water (as opposed to a swimming pool) you know that it is a very different experience.

First of all, if you have to wear a wetsuit, that experience is something in itself, let me tell you.

But simply swimming in a body of water is also a very different experience.
 
In a swimming pool, there are lines painted on the bottom of the pool which make staying in your lane easy. But even if that doesn’t work for some reason, there are floating strings that keep you from moving too far one way or the other.

In open water, you don’t have any lines to follow. In fact, at least in the lake I was swimming in, the water was so murky that I couldn’t even see my own arms.

So your only means of staying on a straight path is to either try to follow the shore, or lift your head every so often to orient yourself.
 
The water is also generally colder in open water (although not always).

So, yesterday, I started my swim experience by putting on my wetsuit.

If you’ve never put a wetsuit on, that is a workout all by itself. By the time I was ready to actually swim, I felt like I’d already done a full workout!

But, I got the wetsuit on and I got into the water. And man, was that water COLD! I was swimming in Ghost Lake (reservoir), which is glacier fed, so the water is a bit of a shock.
 
The good news is that the wetsuit did its job and kept my body warm.

My hands and face took a little time to adjust to the water temperature, but after a couple minutes, that was no longer a problem.

It takes a little time to get used to swimming with new and different (and a bit restrictive) gear.

It also takes time when you’re nervous and uncertain to allow your heart rate and breathing to calm down.
 
So, I had a very slow start with lots of trips back to the shore to rest, catch my breath, and check in with my lifeguard (Erick was the lucky guy).

After several times of swimming back to shore to rest, I started rolling over onto my back to float and/or do a few strokes to keep moving.

It slows you down to do this, but it allowed me to catch my breath and reset my tired shoulders without going back to shore repeatedly.

And actually, I discovered something else in that process, too.
 
Rolling onto my back was lovely. It wasn’t just a physical rest.

I was looking up at a beautiful blue sky with fluffy white clouds in it. I couldn’t see anything but sky.

No buildings. No smoke or smog. No cranes. No airplanes. No people. No boats.

Nothing but blue sky and white clouds and a feeling of being supported by the lake.

In actuality, I was being supported mostly by a wetsuit that made me more buoyant, but it felt like the lake was supporting me.
 
And, I was able to rest.

It wasn’t just rest from the weariness of this new skill I was trying to learn and develop.

It wasn’t just rest for my tired shoulders and my calves that wanted to cramp.

It wasn’t just rest from feeling a little disappointed that I was swimming SO slow compared to normal.

It was rest from everything.

From the busy-ness of my life. From the stress of training. From whatever else was on my mind.
 
It was pure, unencumbered rest.

I think I would go so far as to say that blue sky and those white clouds and the peaceful feeling of floating alone with nothing clouding my vision or my heart was rest in God.

Momentary, blissful, deep, abiding rest in God.

It reminded me of a dream, or my childhood, maybe – the wonder and excitement of floating and just being. Just being me, bringing all of myself to God in that moment.

And then, I turned over and kept swimming.
 
The Message

Our Gospel reading today from Matthew 11 says, “If you are tired from carrying heavy burdens, come to me and I will give you rest.”

Often we are encouraged to rest from the busy-ness of life. And, don’t get me wrong – we should rest from that busy-ness.

But I wonder what that rest looks like?

For working people, how often do we truly rest on our days off?
 
Sure, we might not be working. But are we truly resting?

Or are we cleaning, running errands, making phone calls, checking in on all the balls we have in the air, or just generally catching up on life?

And, for those who aren’t working anymore, do you truly get rest, or are you busier than ever?

Even if we do manage to get real rest that is unencumbered by anxiety over all the things we should be doing instead, what does that rest look like?
 
Is it restorative, renewing, and re-energizing? Or, is it zoning out to try to forget the busy life we usually lead?

Is it weighed down with guilt about everything you’re not doing while you’re resting?

Maybe it’s just me who struggles with truly resting (those who know me likely aren’t surprised by this!), but I don’t think I am the only one.

Whenever I go to King’s Fold Retreat Centre to try to get true rest, one of the things they tell people is to try not to bring too much “to do.”
 
In other words, if you go thinking “I’m going to get so much reading done! I’m going to take five books with me,” you may feel disappointed that you don’t get much reading done.

They have learned over many years of welcoming retreatants that many, many people on retreat need true and abiding rest.

Sometimes that means sleep – lots of sleep. Sometimes that means sitting and listening to the wind or the river or the birds.

Sometimes that means turning off the phone.
 
But often, it does not mean frantically trying to accomplish all of the things you thought you would try to accomplish with the spare time.

Instead, King’s Fold has found that for many people, being on retreat means truly resting. Slowing down. Flipping over to swim on your back and look at the blue sky and the fluffy white clouds.

And to rest in God. Settle in. Release your burdens. Allow yourself to go to God – to go to Jesus – so that you can receive rest.

Allow that gift to wash over you.
 
You may not always be able to set aside your burdens permanently. But for a moment, stop swimming, roll over, and float there.

Allow God to support you fully. Relax your body, feel God holding you firmly, and release yourself.

Feel the weightlessness of floating – being fully supported and setting down the weight of the burdens you carry.

Allow God to take that weight off your shoulders, even for a moment.

Rest.
 
Rest in God’s abiding love for you.

Let’s take a moment now to try a spiritual practice together.

Let’s use our imaginations momentarily.

Close your eyes, if that is available to you. And if not, then just soften your gaze and allow your eyes to relax.

Take two deep breaths – in… and out.

In… and out.
 
Now, imagine you are at a body of water. Choose a place that you’ve been before that is a comfort to you, perhaps.

It can be the clearest, cleanest water you’ve ever been in – this is a safe place to be.

Imagine this water is clear and still. There is no danger.

Now imagine it’s a beautiful, clear, sunny day. Or, imagine your favourite weather. Something that feels safe and comfortable to you.
 
You don’t even have to get wet in this water if you don’t want to. Just be in it.

Once you have imagined this safe body of water, imagine you are wading in.

As you wade into that clear, glassy water that is the perfect temperature, you feel yourself getting lighter.

As the water begins to cover your body and reaches your shoulders, imagine whatever you are carrying begins to become weightless. If you want, it can even float away, or float nearby if you need to pick it up again later.
 
Now, I want you to allow yourself to float. Feel the weight of your own body lift.

Look up at the sky – maybe it’s blue with fluffy clouds, or maybe it’s a pink and purple sunset.

This is your safe place to rest, so it can be whatever makes you feel comfortable and happy.

Feel yourself being supported fully by that water.

Now imagine that the water is God. Maybe God’s arms are what’s supporting you in the water. Maybe you are in a nest or cocoon with God.
 
But imagine God is there.

If there is something you’d like to say to God, or if there is a burden or weight you’ve been carrying that you want to ask God to take or at least help you carry, lift that to God now.

Take 30 seconds of silence to float, feeling yourself fully supported, and offer to God whatever needs to be offered.

And if there is nothing or you’re not sure what you need or want to say, that’s OK. Just feel yourself being supported and loved.

When you are ready, slowly open your eyes. If the burden you set aside needs to be picked back up, pick it up. But, notice if it feels a little lighter now.

Come back to the present and notice how you are feeling now. Maybe you feel lighter, more peaceful, or more settled.

Maybe you don’t feel any different, and that’s OK, too.

Just allow yourself to be however and whoever you are in this moment.

Welcome yourself without judgement.
 
As we come back to the present and begin to settle back into life, I invite you to rest.

“If you are tired from carrying heavy burdens, come to me and I will give you rest” says Jesus.

As you leave here today – as you go out into the rest of your day, the rest of your week, may you remember this exercise any time you need to use it.

It is available to you whenever you need it.
​
May you allow God to help you carry your burdens. May you welcome the rest that God offers and may you welcome God’s love for you, always. Amen.
 
Let us pray:
 
God, we come to you, weary.
We lay down our heavy burdens.
You who are gentle and humble in heart,
give us rest for our souls.
Yoke our hearts to Jesus,
that we may learn the ways of love,
that we may live with courage and peace. Amen.